Autonomy:
The Aim of Education
Envisioned by Piaget
by Constance Kamii
Ms. Kamii calls on educators to heed more carefully Jean
Piaget's own words about the radical reforms his theories imply.
By focusing on how children develop and how they learn best,
she maintains, we can revolutionize education.
E VERY TEXTBOOK on educational
I psychology published today includes
a discussion of Jean Piaget's theory of
child development. These books almost
always state that the importance of this
theory lies in the developmental stages
that Piaget found and in the fact that chil-
dren cannot be expected to understand
certain concepts before they reach a given
developmental level. This common inter-
miaget stated that pretation of Piaget's theory is extremely
limited. Presenting his theory in this way
a school based on his also fails to give teachers useful guidelines
theory would be for improving the schools. This situation
is particularly unfortunate, since we
radically different recognize that the schools are not working
well. Low test scores, physical violence,
from those in exis- alcohol and drug abuse, alienation, and
tence today, because vandalism are only some of the problems
plaguing U.S. schools today.
its very aim would My intent is to clarify Piaget's ideas
be different. about education. I will also show that
the two ideas from his theory that Piaget
himself identified as most important are
autonomy and constructivism — not the
stages of development, as current text-
books would have us believe. In one of the
two books he published on education,
Piaget stated that a school based on his
theory would be radically different from
those in existence today, because its very
aim would be different.1 For Piaget, the
aim of education was intellectual and
moral autonomy. This goal is in sharp
contrast with the conservative goal of tra-
ditional education, which is to transmit
knowledge and values from one genera-
tion to the next.
Moral Autonomy
Autonomy means being governed by
oneself. It is the opposite of heteronomy,
CONSTANCE KAMII is a professor in the
School of Education at the University of Ala-
bama, Birmingham. She acknowledges the as-
sistance of Kathleen Cruber, University of Il-
linois at Chicago, and of Mieko Kamii,
Wheelock College, in the preparation of this Young children systematically manifested
article. °I984, Constance Kamii. the morality of heteronomy by saying that
410 PHI DELTA KAPPAN 6?
which means being governed by someone
else. Elliott Richardson provided, in the
Watergate cover-up, an extreme example
of the morality of autonomy.2 He was the
only person who refused to obey Presi-
dent Nixon, resigning his position instead.
The other participants in the Watergate
cover-up illustrate the morality of heter-
onomy. When they were told to lie, they
obeyed their superior, going along with
what they knew to be wrong.
Piaget provided more commonplace
examples of the morality of autonomy.3
He asked children between the ages of 6
and 14 whether it was worse to tell a lie to
an adult or to another child. Young, het-
eronomous children consistently replied
that it was worse to tell a lie to an adult.
Asked why, they explained that adults can
tell when a statement is not true. By con-
trast, older children tended to say that ly-
ing to adults is sometimes almost unavoid-
able but that lying to other children is rot-
ten. These older children demonstrate a
developing morality of autonomy. For au-
tonomous individuals, lies are bad — re-
gardless of the reward system, adult au-
thority, and the possibility of being
caught.
Piaget also made up many pairs of
stories about children, and he asked the 6-
to 14-year-olds which one of the two
children in each story pair was worse. One
story pair went this way:
A little boy (or a little girl) goes for a
walk in the street and meets a big dog
who frightens him very much. So then
he goes home and tells his mother he has
seen a dog that was as big as a cow.
A child comes home from school and
tells his mother that the teacher had
given him good marks, but it was not
true; the teacher had given him ho
marks at all, either good or bad. Then
his mother was very pleased and reward-
ed him.4
 the child in the first story was worse than
the child in the second. Why? Because
dogs are never as big as cows, and adults
do not believe such stories. Older, more
autonomous children, on the other hand,
tended to say that the child in the second
story was worse, because this child's lie
was more believable.
Figure 1 shows the developmental rela-
tionship between autonomy and heterono-
my. In this figure, time is represented
along the horizontal axis from birth to
adulthood. The vertical axis represents the
proportion of autonomy (in relation to
heteronomy), from 0 to 100%. The dotted
line shows the ideal development of an in-
dividual. All babies are born helpless and
heteronomous. Ideally, a child becomes
increasingly autonomous (and corres-
pondingly less heteronomous) as he or she
grows older. In other words, to the extent
that a child becomes able to govern him-
self or herself, that child is governed less
by other people.
In reality, most individuals do not de-
velop in this ideal way. The great majority
stop developing at a low level, as shown
by the solid line in Figure 1. Piaget noted
that only rarely are adults truly moral.3
We can easily confirm this observation by
skimming a newspaper and noting the fre-
quency of stories about corruption in gov-
ernment and about theft, assault, and
murder.
The important question for educators
and parents is, What causes some children
to become morally autonomous adults?
Piaget's answer was that adults reinforce
children's natural heteronomy when they
use rewards and punishments, and they
stimulate the development of autonomy
J&ft Figure 1. The Developmental Relationship
Between Autonomy and Heteronomy
.a'g£-ifth •&.. y. :
when they exchange points of view with
w,
children.
When a child tells a lie, for example,
the adult can respond by withholding des-
sert or by making the child write SO times,
e must refrain•"•••**
"I will not lie." Or the adult can look the from using rewards
child straight in the eye and say with a
combination of skepticism and affection, and punishments and
"I really can't believe what you are saying encourage children to
because. . . . " By thus exchanging points
of view, the adult can help the child devel- construct moral values
op autonomy. The child, seeing that the
adult cannot believe him or her, can be
for themselves.
motivated to think about what he or she
must do to be believed. Given many simi-
lar opportunities over time, the child is
likely to arrive at the conviction that it is for them to begin living for themselves.
best, in the long run, for people to deal Such children may even begin to engage in
honestly with one another. various behaviors that characterize delin-
quency. These behaviors may look like
Punishment, by contrast, leads to three autonomous acts, but a vast difference ex-
possible outcomes. The most common
ists between autonomy and revolt. In re-
outcome is calculation of risks. The child volt, the individual is opposing conform-
who is punished will repeat the same act
ity. Nonconformity does not necessarily
but will try to avoid being caught the next make an individual morally autonomous,
time. Adults can sometimes even be heard however.
to say, "Don't let me catch you doing that
again!" Sometimes the child stoically de- Punishments thus reinforce children's
heteronomy and prevent them from devel-
cides ahead of time that, even if he or she
oping autonomy. Although they are more
is caught, the pleasure that the act will
pleasurable than punishments, rewards al-
bring will be worth the price. The second
possible outcome of punishment is blind so reinforce children's heteronomy. Chil-
dren who help their parents only to earn
conformity. Some compliant children be-
come total conformists, because conform- money or who study only to get good
grades are governed by others, just as are
ity assures them of security and respecta-
bility. As conformists, children no longer children who behave well only to avoid
punishments. Adults exercise power over
have to make decisions; all they have to
do is obey. The third possible outcome of children by using rewards and punish-
ments, and these sanctions keep children
punishment is revolt. Some children, after
years of angelic behavior, decide that they obedient and heteronomous.
If we want children to develop the
are tired of pleasing their parents and
teachers all the time — the time has come morality of autonomy, we must refrain
from using rewards and punishments and
instead encourage children to construct
moral values for themselves. It is possible
for a child to think about the importance
of honesty, for example, only if he or she
is confronted with the fact that other peo-
ple cannot trust him or her.
Autonomy enables children to make
decisions for themselves. But autonomy is
not synonymous with complete freedom.
Autonomy means taking relevant factors
into account in determining the best
course of action for all concerned. There
can be no morality when one considers
only one's own point of view. If one takes
other people's views into account, one is
not free to tell lies, to break promises, or
to behave inconsiderately.
Piaget recognized that, in reality, it is
impossible to avoid punishments. Streets
are full of life-threatening cars. And we
cannot allow children to touch dangerous
power tools or electrical outlets. How-
ever, Piaget made an important distinc-
tion between punishments and sanctions
by reciprocity. Depriving a child of dessert
for telling a lie is an example of punish-
Adulthood
ment, because the relationship between
FEBRUARY 1984 411
 the lie and the dessert is completely ar-
bitrary. Telling the child that we cannot
believe what he or she says is an example
of a sanction by reciprocity. Sanctions by
reciprocity are directly related to the acts
we wish to discourage and to our adult
point of view; these sanctions motivate
the child to construct rules of conduct,
through the coordination of viewpoints.
Piaget mentioned six types of sanctions
by reciprocity. 1 will discuss four of the sue
types here. The first is temporary or per-
manent exclusion from the group. When a
group is listening to a story and a child
disrupts the group, for example, the
teacher often says, "You can either stay
here without bothering the rest of us, or
you can go to the book corner and read by
yourself." Whenever possible, the child
must be allowed to determine the point at
which he or she can behave well enough to
return to the group. Mechanical time lim-
its serve only as punishment, and children
who have served the required time often
feel perfectly free to commit the same mis-
deed again.
The second type of sanction by reci-
procity involves calling the child's atten-
tion to the direct and material conse-
quence of his or her act. I have already
given an example of this type of sanction
in my discussion of children's lies.
The third type of sanction by reciproci-
ty is depriving the child of the thing that
he or she has misused. Some time ago, I
spent three consecutive days observing a
class of approximately two dozen 4- and
5-year-olds. The room was rather small,
and about one-third of its area had been
set aside for block constructions that re-
"I understand it's a very interesting course. You study all the great philosophers
from Plato to Andy Rooney."
412 PHI DELTA KAPPAN
mained intact throughout my visit. I was
surprised that these elaborate construc-
tions survived for three days and that the
children were extremely careful not to dis-
turb the works of others when they went
to the block area from time to time to
modify their own constructions. When I
asked the teacher how the children came
to be so careful, she explained that she
was very strict at the beginning of the
year, not allowing children to enter the
block area if they knocked anything over.
Later, she negotiated with individual chil-
dren therightto enter the block area, once
they realized that they had to earn this
right. This teacher's goal was not merely
to produce a particular behavior, but to
make it possible for all the children to use
the blocks autonomously. She intended to
create a situation in which the children
could trust their classmates to respect
their block constructions.
The fourth type of sanction by reci-
procity is restitution. For example, if a
young child spills paint on the floor, an
appropriate reaction may be to say,
"Would you like me to help you clean it
up?" Later in the year, the teacher may
only have to ask, "What do you have to
do?"
One day a kindergartner tearfully re-
ported that his an project had been dam-
aged. The teacher told the class that she
wanted the person who had damaged the
object to stay with her during recess, so
that she could help him or her repair it.
The child responsible for the damage
could see the victim's point of view and
was encouraged by the teacher's behavior
to construct for himself the rule of restitu-
tion. When children are not afraid of be-
ing punished, they are perfectly willing to
come forward and make restitution. The
teacher helped the child repair the broken
object; she also asked him to tell her, if
something similar happened in the future,
so that she could help him again.
Piaget pointed out that all sanctions by
reciprocity can quickly degenerate into
punishments, if mutual affection and re-
spect are lacking between adult and child.
Indeed, mutual respect is essential if a
child is to develop autonomy. The child
who feels respected for the way he or she
thinks and feels is likely also to respect the
way adults and other children think and
feel.
Piaget's theory about how children
learn moral values is fundamentally dif-
ferent from other theories and from com-
mon sense. Common sense suggests that a
child internalizes moral values from the
environment. According to Piaget, how-
ever, children acquire moral values by
constructing them from within, through
interactions with their environment. For
example, no child is taught that it is worse
to tell a lie to an adult than to another
child. Yet young children construct this
belief out of their own experiences. Like-
wise, no child is taught that it is worse to
say, "I saw a dog as big as a cow," than to
say, "The teacher gave me good marks."
But young children construct such judg-
ments by relating these two statements to
everything they have previously been told.
Fortunately, they go on to construct other
relationships, and they often end up be-
lieving that it is worse to say, "The teacher
gave me good marks."
It is probably safe to say that most of
us were punished as children. To the ex-
tent that we also had opportunities to co-
ordinate our viewpoints with those of oth-
ers, we had opportunities to become more
autonomous. Richardson's behavior in
the Watergate affair suggests that he was
reared to make decisions by considering
other people's points of view, not by con-
sidering only the reward system.
The Watergate affair illustrates Piaget's
view of autonomy as intellectual, as well
as moral. The Watergate participants who
eventually went to prison were unmoral,
of course. But they were also unbelievably
stupid, behaving just as young children
do, when they are still too egocentric to
realize that the truth will come out sooner
or later.
Intellectual Autonomy
In the intellectual realm, too, autono-
my means being governed by oneself, and
heteronomy means being governed by
someone else. An extreme example of in-
tellectual autonomy is the work of Coper-
nicus — or the work of any other scientist
 often ask individual children how they ar- Autonomy as the Aim of Education
rived at particular answers. They typically Figure 2 shows autonomy as the aim of

A ,n individual who
react to my question by grabbing their education, in relation to the goals of
}••'/•&** •"-»*""' - erasers — even when their answers are education as most educators and members
perfectly correct. As early as first grade, of the general public define them today. I
is intellectually het- many children have learned to distrust willfirstdiscuss the part of each circle.that
eronomous will unques- discouraged their own thinking. Children who are thus does not overlap with the other, and then
from thinking autonomously I will discuss the area of intersection.
tioningly accept what will construct less knowledge than will The part of the shaded circle that does
children who are mentally active and con- not overlap the other circle stands for the
he or she is told, fident. implicit and explicit, intended and unin-
including propaganda. The wise teacher refrains from correct- tended, heteronomous goals of education
ing a child who says that 4 + 2 = 5. A today. This education requires of students
better reaction is to encourage two chil- a great deal of memorization, so that they
dren who arrived at different answers to can pass one examination after another.
explain their thinking to one another. Al- Those of us who succeeded in school did
who ever invented a revolutionary theory. ternatively, the teacher can ask the child, so by memorizing an enormous number of
Copernicus developed the heliocentric "How did you get 5?" Children often cor- "right" answers - without understanding
theory when everyone else believed that rect themselves autonomously as they try or caring about them. We all remember
the sun revolved around the earth. to explain their reasoning to someone else. the relief we felt at being free to forget the
Though his theory earned him derision In the process of explaining, they have to things we had memorized, as soon as the
from others, Copernicus was autonomous decenter — that is, to try to coordinate lest was over. We did the memorizing
enough to remain convinced of its merit. their points of view with those of others. mostly because we were obedient con-
By contrast, an individual who is intellec- In doing so, children often recognize their formists in a system that reinforced our
tually heteronomous will unquestioningly own mistakes. heteronomy.
accept what he or she is told, including il- An even better way of teaching arith- Studies by Joe McKinnon and John
logical conclusions, slogans, and propa- metic in first grade is to eliminate all for- Renner* and by Milton Schwebel7 demon-
ganda. mal instruction and to introduce instead strate the outcome of this kind of educa-
My niece, who used to believe in Santa such games as "Double War." In this tion. These researchers investigated the
Claus, provides a more commonplace ex- game, a player compares the sum of his or ability of college freshmen to think log-
ample of intellectual autonomy. When she her two cards with the sum of the oppo- ically at the formal operational level. The
was about 6, she surprised her mother one nent's two cards, and the player whose freshmen had performed well enough in
day by asking, "How come Santa Claus sum is greater takes all four cards. It is not elementary and high school to gain admit-
uses the same wrapping paper as we do?" necessary to teach children sums, because tance to a university. Yet McKinnon and
Her mother's "explanation" satisfied her they can figure out for themselves the re- Renner found that only 25% of them were
for a few minutes, but she soon came up sult of each addition. Moreover, in a capable of solid logical thinking at the for-
with the next question: "How come Santa game they can exchange points of view mal level. A mere 20% of Schwebel's sub-
Claus has the same handwriting as Dad- and correct one another. This method of jects were capable of such thinking.
dy?" This child had her own way of think- learning is more active and more condu- Ability to think logically at the for-
ing, which yielded different conclusions cive to the development of autonomy than mal level falls within the circle labeled
from those she had been taught. are workbooks. My current research indi- "autonomy" in Figure 2. More precisely,
According to Piaget, a child acquires cates that children cannot help but re- this ability belongs in the part of the un-
knowledge just as he or she acquires mor- member sums, if they play such games shaded circle that does not overlap with
al values: by constructing it from within, often enough. the shaded circle, since logical thinking
not by internalizing it directly from the
environment. Children may internalize Figure 2. Relationship Between Autonomy
certain bits of knowledge for a while, but And the Goals of Most Educators and the Public
their minds are not passive vessels that
merely hold what is poured into them. A
more precise way of discussing construc- Goals of Most
tivism is to say that children construct Educators and the
knowledge by creating and coordinating Autonomy Public
relationships. When my niece put Santa
Claus into relationship with everything
else she knew, she began to feel that some-
thing was wrong somewhere.
Unfortunately, teachers often do not
encourage children to think autonomous-
ly. Instead, they frequently use sanctions
to prod children to give "correct" answers.
The use of worksheets is a good example.
If a first-grader writes on a worksheet that :•- ; i
4 + 2 = 5, most teachers mark the answer
as incorrect. This kind of teaching con-
vinces children that truth can come only
out of the teacher's head. When I visit
first-grade classrooms in which children
are working on arithmetic worksheets, I

FEBRUARY 19134 413


« Ixchanging points
of view contributes
positively to
children's social,
affective, moral, and
political development
is clearly not a goal of secondary educa-
tion. McKinnon and Renner concluded
from their findings that high schools do
not teach students to think logically and
that, if teachers at this level do not em-
phasize logical thinking, we must blame
the universities that trained these teachers.
In other words, education at all levels un-
deremphasizes thinking. Moreover, if stu-
dents cannot think logically at the formal
operational level, they certainly cannot
think critically or autonomously.
In the moral realm, too, the schools
reinforce children's heteronomy and un-
wittingly prevent students from develop-
ing autonomy. To enforce rules and stan-
dards that have been set by adults, the
schools use grades, gold stars, the de-
tention hall, merits and demerits, and
awards. In Figure 2, the part of the circle
labeled "autonomy" that does not overlap
with the other circle thus stands for in-
tellectual and moral autonomy.
The intersection between the two
circles stands for things taught in schools
that are useful to the development of
autonomy (even though the goal of such
instruction is conformity). Such skills as
reading and writing, calculating, com-
prehending maps and charts, and placing
events in history are examples of learnings
that help us adapt to our environment. If
autonomy is the aim of education, edu-
cators must try to increase the area of
overlap between the two circles.
Teaching for Autonomy
If an individual opposes "the goals of
most educators and the public," other
people sometimes assume that this in-
dividual opposes the teaching of academic
subjects. I have nothing against academic
subjects; in fact, I strongly favor them.
But I think that we can increase the area
of overlap between the two circles in
Figure 2 by teaching such subjects in ways
that foster the development of autonomy
in children.
Let me use as an illustration an after-
noon that I spent observing a sixth-grade
class. I do not know enough about the
teaching of grammar to judge the desir-
414 PHI DELTA KAPPAN
ability of teaching youngsters to diagram
sentences, but this example allows me to
discuss the importance of thinking that is
stimulated by social interaction. The class
was divided into six groups of four or five
students each. When I arrived after lunch,
the teacher wrote a rather tricky sentence
on the chalkboard and gave the small
groups 20 minutes to diagram it. A repre-
sentative of each group placed a diagram
on the chalkboard when the allotted time
was up. Two of the six diagrams were im-
mediately erased, because they were dupli-
cations. Individual students then offered
well-reasoned arguments favoring or op-
posing one or another of the remaining
four diagrams. The authors of a diagram
under attack defended it vigorously, and
the intense debate continued until recess
time. By then, everyone had agreed that
two of the four diagrams were inadequate
and had to be erased.
When the children returned from re-
cess, the teacher asked if they wanted the
answer. Some said, "Yes." But others
answered, "No, because you'll give us the
wrong answer just to see if you can trick
us!" The teacher admitted that he had in-
tended to do just that. So the arguments
and counterarguments continued, and the
class finally agreed on the superiority of
one diagram.
This class spent an entire afternoon on
one sentence. But my impression was that
the children thought so hard about each
well-articulated argument that they were
thoroughly convinced of the superiority
of the final diagram. Many pupils offered
wrong ideas along the way, but the teach-
er encouraged them to defend their opin-
ions until they themselves were convinced
that their opinions were wrong. Accord-
ing to the theory of constructivism, chil-
dren learn by modifying old ideas, not by
accumulating new ones. A debate about
the superiority of one idea or another is
good, because it encourages children to
think critically by putting different ideas
into relationship with one another. It also
allows students to modify old ideas auton-
omously when they are convinced that
new ideas are better.
This sixth-grade teacher taught aca-
demic content and simultaneously tried to
foster the development of intellectual and
moral autonomy. Children can develop
intellectual autonomy only when all ideas,
including wrong ones, are respected. Chil-
dren can develop moral autonomy only
when their ideas are given serious consid-
eration in the process of making deci-
sions. It is also important to note that
children mobilize their intelligence and the
totality of their knowledge when they
have to take a stand and confront oppos-
ing opinions. Thus teaching methods that
encourage children to coordinate view-
points are far more effective than tradi-
tional methods that aim only at getting
students to give "right" answers.
Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont's research8
confirms the importance that Piaget at-
tributed to social interaction. Piaget
argued that exchanging points of view is
indispensable for children's moral devel-
opment.9 He later went on to say that
these exchanges are equally necessary for
the development of logic in children.10
Using Piaget's statement as a hypothesis,
and taking into account the research of
Barbel Inhelder, Hermine Sinclair, and
Magali Bovet," Perret-Clermont studied
the effects of social interaction on chil-
dren's cognitive development. She con-
cluded that, when children confront the
ideas of other children for as brief an in-
terval as 10 minutes, higher levels of logi-
cal reasoning are often the outcome.
Moreover, she found that children could
generalize these higher levels of reasoning
to areas not covered in the experiment.
Perret-Clermont's experiments are sim-
ilar in one important way to the situations
I described earlier, involving the teaching
of sixth-grade grammar and of first-grade
arithmetic. In each case, children were
stimulated to think by having them con-
front the ideas of their peers. Clearly,
social life in the classroom affects chil-
dren's intellectual development. Exchang-
ing points of view also contributes posi-
tively to children's social, affective, moral,
and political development.
A few more examples of the teaching
of academic content will show that each
subject must be taught differently when
the teacher's broad aim is the development
of autonomy. In history, biographies of
famous people enable children to view his-
torical facts from the perspectives of in-
dividuals. It is easier to construct history
by approaching facts through subjective
viewpoints than through memorizing
dates and reading or listening to "objec-
tive" interpretations. Certain questions
are almost always appropriate: "What do
you think of. . .?" "Does everybody
agree with . . .?" "Is there anyone who
has a different opinion?" In school, chil-
dren are almost never asked what they
honestly think, and they are seldom given
two different interpretations of the same
event. By asking children what they think
of one interpretation or another, teachers
can stimulate thinking. Such discussions
lead both to intellectual autonomy and to
better comprehension of content, because
children can actively relate ideas and si-
multaneously evaluate their classmates'
various perspectives.
In literature, teachers can ask their
students for different interpretations of a
poem or for personal reactions to a novel.
Again, the important thing is to encour-
age students to compare and evaluate the
reactions of their peers. In science, teach-
 logic in so far as these normative laws ignorant of children; the higher an edu-
are necessary to common search for cator advances in the hierarchy, the more
truth." he or she becomes isolated from children
mmWmWmW Of the moral aspect of autonomy, Piaget
and classrooms.
There is something comfortably ar-
to stop being satis- said:
chaic about all the so-called innovations
fied with conservative [MJoral autonomy appears when the in education. However, the time has come
to stop being satisfied with these conserva-
changes and to plan a mind regards as necessary an ideal that
is independent of all external pressure. tive changes and to plan instead a Coper-
Copernican revolution Now, apart from our relations to other nican revolution in education. By shifting
the focus of our thinking away from what
people, there can be no moral neces-
in education. sity. . . . Autonomy . . . appears only we do to children to how children de-
with reciprocity, when mutual respect is velop, we can begin — socially, intellec-
strong enough to make the individual tually, and morally — to allow and en-
feel from within the desire to treat courage them to construct their own
others as he himself would wish to be ideas. Children respect the rules that they
ers can suggest projects aimed at produc- treated.'4 make for themselves. They also work hard
ing certain effects (such as the making of
to achieve the goals that they set for them-
cars for a soapbox derby). To produce a My conviction about the importance of
selves. I call on educators to heed more
successful soapbox racer, for example, autonomy is based partly on the fact that
carefully Piaget's own words about the
children have to understand the relevance most adults who attended traditional
radical reforms implied by his theory.
of such factors as friction, center of gravi- schools came out underdeveloped, con-
ty, and size of wheels. Other examples of sidering their potential. Piaget noted that,
the teaching of content in the context of if we examine "normal adult individuals
autonomy have been published else- who are representative of the honest, hu- 1. Jean Piaget, To Understand ts lo Invent (1948;
where.12 man average, the truly logical persons New York: Viking, 1973).
The examples that I have provided here who are masters of their reasoning power 2. Some people challenge this statement on the
do not mean that Piaget's theory implies are as rare as the truly moral men who ex- ground that Richardson may have decided to be
honest oui of fear of being caught. I admit thai 1
simply a different way of teaching the ercise their 15
conscience with all their
do not know enough about Richardson to make this
same traditional academic subjects. Au- strength." statement with certitude. However, whether or not the
tonomy as the aim of education implies a Educators today are trying to solve a reader agrees that Richardson's behavior is illustrative
kind of schooling that is very different variety of problems — including low test of moral autonomy, his situation demonstrates that
from the conformist education practiced scores, violence and apathy in the schools, corruption in government is common and that people
who stand up for what is right are rare.
around the world today. truancy, alcoholism, drug abuse, teenage 3. Jean Piaget, The Moral Judgment of the Child
Piaget's conceptualization of the aim pregnancies, and vandalism — as if these (1932; New York: Free Press, 1965).
of education is unique, in that it is rooted were separate problems. The solutions 4. Ibid., p. 148.
in a scientific theory of how human beings that educators have turned to include 5. Piaget, To Understand. . . .
acquire moral values and knowledge. high-pressure instruction and tests to raise 6. Joe W. McKinnon and John W. Renner, "AreCol-
leges Concerned with Intellectual Development?,"
Such reformers as Jean Jacques Rous- academic achievement; exclusion from American Journal of Physics, September 1971, pp.
seau, Maria Montessori, John Dewey, school to stop physical violence; reliance 1047-52.
Ovide Decroly, and Celestin Freinet had on police and truancy officers; programs 7. Milton Schwebel, "Formal Operations in First-
ideas similar to Piaget's, but they based to teach students about sex, alcohol, and Year College Students," Journal of Psychology, Sep-
their objectives and methods on personal drugs; and special budgets to replace tember 1975, pp. 133-41.
opinions rather than on scientific theories. broken windows with opaque, unbreak- 8. Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont, Social Interaction
and Cognitive Development in Children (London:
The details of Piaget's theory continue able materials. Piaget's theory of autono- Academic Press, 1980).
to be modified, but constructivism — the my suggests instead not a search for more 9. Piaget, The Moral Judgment. . . .
fundamental concept in his theory — has Band-Aids, but a fundamental reexamina- 10. Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence
never been disproved. The idea that chil- tion of educational objectives. (1947; Paterson, N.J.: Littlefield, Adams & Co.,
1963).
dren acquire moral values and knowledge Autonomy as the aim of education is, 11. Barbel Inhelder, Hermine Sinclair, and Magali
by construction from within — by putting in one sense, a new idea that could revolu- Bovet, Learning and the Development of Cognition
things into relationships — still stands, as tionize education. In another sense, it is (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974).
does the idea that social interactions are simply a reemphasis of human values and 12. Constance Kamii, Number in Preschool and Kin-
essential for this construction to take relationships. I hope that those authors dergarten: Educational Implications of Piageti
place. Moreover, according to Piaget, who write about the educational implica- Theory (Washington, D.C.: National Association for
the Education of Young Children, 1982); Constance
honest exchanges of points of view are tions of Piaget's theory will soon become Kamii and Rheta DeVries, Physical Knowledge in Pre-
bound to lead, in the long run, to auton- convinced that the significance of this school Education: Implications of Piaget's Theory
omy. Of the intellectual aspect of auton- theory lies not in the developmental stages (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1978); and
omy, Piaget said: he identified, but in the importance he at- idem, Group Games in Early Education: Implications
of Piaget's Theory (Washington, D.C.: National As-
tached to constructivism and autonomy. I sociation for the Education of Young Children, 1980).
[CJooperation alone leads to autonomy. am personally outraged to see the legal 13. Piaget, The Moral Judgment. . . . p. 403. Coop
With regard to logic, cooperation is at powers of taxation and compulsory edu- eration, as Piaget uses the word, does not mean com-
first a source of criticism; thanks to the cation used to hamper the development of pliance. When we say, "Your cooperation will be ap-
mutual control which it introduces, it human potential. I am also scandalized by preciated," we mean, in common parlance, that we re-
suppresses both the spontaneous convic- quest the person's compliance. For Piaget, by con-
the fact that the educational establishment trast, cooperation meant to co-operate or to operate
tion that characterizes egocentrism and of every country I know is characterized together. The words that best express what he meant
the blind faith in adult authority. Thus, by two factors: ignorance and power. are to negotiate and to exchange points of view. Thus
discussion gives rise to reflection and Educators are ignorant of post-behaviorist an argument can also be an example of cooperation, if
objective verification. But through this it involves an exchange of viewpoints.
very fact cooperation . . . leads to the scientific theory. Those educators who
14. Ibid., p. 196.
recognition of the principles of formal control the educational enterprise are also 15. Piaget, To Understand.... p. 50. O

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